Ok.. perhaps this is fairly obvious, but there is really no better way to cross the Atlantic (in the air) than via Concorde!                       This is truly a fantastic experience!

 However, I was not not particularly pleased with their flight schedule (departing JFK @ 8:30AM, which for people who don't happen to live at the airport means that one has to getup extremely early.  In the summer months the flight leaves at 12:30, which makes it a bit more manageable for leisure travelers) .  But we made on time!   There is also a very nice place called the "Concorde Room" to have a full breakfast and to peacefully watch the sun rise over the aircraft.

Once aboard one immediately notices that this is not your typical aircraft.    Frankly it is a lot smaller than one would think.   The interior is somewhat smaller than a 737, and it is really quite tight in the galley and the lavatories.   The seats, while very comfortable, are certainly nothing like a Trans-Atlantic First Class seat on a 777, but then again, you don't have to sit in this seat nearly as long!   The windows are tiny, and very thick.  Imagine the temperatures of the plane's skin at speeds that this plane flies each day.  In fact I understand that the heat generated actually lengthens the plane in flight by several centimeters!

Just prior to take-off, the pilot provides a little warning to those who don't take this flight on a routine basis.   He warms that the noise and acceleration that one feels as he turns on the after-burners is completely normal, and there is no need to alarm oneself.   There was a noticeable change and you could really feel and hear  the power of those engines as we lifted off the tarmac!

On board and in the air one finds excellent food, including a nice sampling of Beluga Caviar, and the "Concorde Cellar," as it is called, which fortunately is quite well stocked.   It is really quite pleasant to have a nice sip of Dom-Perignon at 9:00AM., (However, considering the ultimate time change,  this is really quite excusable!)  which in fact put all of those on board in a rather festive mood for the rest of the flight.

A short three hours and twenty seven minutes (17:25 the same day in London) after leaving New York, we were in London.  That was actually less time than my flight from Houston to New York the previous night.

After many trips across on 777s and 747s, typically leaving in the evening from NY and arriving in the UK at a miserable hour in the morning the next day , It was great to make it across within the same day.   It puts one is such a different state of jet-lag that it is hard to comprehend the distance traveled and that one has really crossed the Atlantic.

We had the fortunate opportunity to visit with the flight crew upon arrival to London.    The cockpit is really quite tiny.  What one sees, considering the vintage of the technology is quite amazing!

It was quite obvious how much each of the crew enjoyed their jobs; after all, they work at and within, the pinnacle of the civilian aviation world.  Upon landing, they recounted stories of the 747 & 777 jets that happened to be following flight paths below us (i.e. 5 miles below us !) on our journey across the Atlantic.  Evidently there were a few comments from the subsonic jets about turbulence from our sonic boom.  Our apologies for any wine spillage to those of you who were passing below...